“No distinct ideas occupied my mind; all was confused.”
He is suddenly presented with four very new and alien senses, of smell, touch, sight and hearing, which he is extremely unfamiliar with. The beginning of chapter fifteen is mainly concerned with how the monster discovers the way in which his newfound senses operate.
“All the events of that period appear confused and indistinct. A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses.”
Following the initial confusion of coming into existence, the monster gradually begins to increase his response to the sensations he is experiencing, and therefore starts to rely on his basic animal instinct. For example he states that,
“I felt tormented by hunger and thirst. This roused me from my nearly dormant state, and I ate some berries which I found hanging on the trees or lying on the ground.”
During the formation of the monster’s character Mary Shelley tries to convey a sense of sympathy from the reader because he is deserted, powerless and very naïve.
“I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept.”
In the early stages of the monster’s existence, he is acquainted with two main emotions: pleasure and pain. To the monster, these emotions consist of instinctive feelings, which can’t be explained by him. For example the monster feels pleasure when, after fourteen days, he starts to familiarise himself with his natural surroundings and the wildlife that occupies it.
“I was delighted when I first discovered that a pleasant sound, which often saluted my ears, proceeded from the throats of the little winged animals who had often intercepted the light from my eyes.”
From this stage the natural progression for the monster to take is for him to discover his voice and to establish a form of intelligent communication. He begins this discovery by observing the wildlife around him, this consists of mainly birds. He watches them to see how they produce sound. Although when he makes an attempt at copying them, it fails.
“Sometimes I tried to imitate the pleasant songs of the birds but was unable. Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into silence again.”
Again here, Mary Shelley is trying to portray to the audience the complete state of innocence and helplessness the monster is in. She is once again trying to attain a sense of sympathy from her audience for the monster by expressing his shy and undeveloped personality. At this point the monster is still relying on his senses and instinct to survive and guide him through all the new situations he is faced with. He is a natural man and noble savage and is essentially benevolent. While seeking refuge from the human world in the forest, the next largely beneficial discovery the monster makes is fire, which bestows him access to a significantly larger food source than he had before. In addition to this it is also a source of heat and light for him. However, as before, when the monster discovers something new it is only by means of his senses and emotions coming into play, that he can begin to understand fully.
I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain. How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects!”
Despite the similarity to the way in which the monster made his discoveries and acquired knowledge and understanding right at the beginning of his life, he is gradually developing by thinking things through and rationalising. He is starting to reflect on his experiences so that they become an advantage to him, which is essentially the basis of any learning process. Another way the monster uses to develop his understanding is by copying and observing things around him; an example of this is described in the following passage where he is desperately trying to find ways in which he can get and use food.
“I found, with pleasure, that the fire gave light as well as heat and that the discovery of this element was useful to me in my food, for I found some of the offals that the travellers had left had been roasted, and tasted much more savoury than the berries I gathered form the trees. I tried, therefore, to dress my food in the same manner, placing it on the live embers. I found that the berries were spoiled by this operation, and the nuts and roots much improved.”
As the monster is desperate for food he continues to journey through the forest in search of a substantial source. While doing this he is exposed to the elements as he is always outside and his only shelters are made from natural materials, such as plant foliage. It is during this journey that he first encounters snow, which is a completely new and unfamiliar substance to him, so understandably it possess an element of fascination for the monster.
“A great fall of snow had taken place the night before, and the fields were of one uniform white; the appearance was disconsolate, and I found my feet chilled by the cold damp substance that covered the ground.”
Journeying through the forest causes the monster to come across many natural elements and to develop many methods of survival; similarly, it results in him stumbling across human life, which is to be the end of the monster’s sheltered existence and the start of him experiencing the cruel ways in which society treat anything that appears to be alien. The monster is attracted to a structure, which is unfamiliar to him but seems welcoming. This is actually a cottage, and as the monster approaches to satisfy his curiosity, he finds a man eating his breakfast. Still relying on his instinct, the monster enters with the aim of getting some food, because at this point he is still desperately hungry. However, the reaction the man has to the monster is that of terror and consequently he runs away. This adverse reaction surprises the monster but he doesn’t dwell on it until later on when it starts to happen repeatedly.
Despite the reaction of the man, the monster stays at the cottage as it is his first shelter since he left Frankenstein’s laboratory where he was created. He describes the shelter in a simile as, “exquisite and divine a retreat as Pandemonium appeared to the daemons of hell after their sufferings in the lake of fire.” After spending the night in the cottage, the following morning the monster begins his journey again, until this time he comes across a whole village. Excited at the prospect of more nutritious food the monster innocently enters the village. However, the residents have an awful reaction to him, leaving the monster bewildered and frightened.
“The milk and cheese that I saw placed at the windows of some of the cottages allured my appetite. One of the best of these I entered, but I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare, and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had beheld in the village.”
The village, and the way in which its inhabitants reacted to the monster, represents the civilized world and the way man instantly reacts to something different and unfamiliar. Living in a community, as people do, is something that the monster will always be denied and isolated from because of his abnormal appearance. The experience the monster had at the village, introduces him to another emotion, which is fear. This is another instinctive emotion, part of the learning process, which is crucial to the full and proper development of his character. However, this emotion has left him upset and feeling extremely isolated, as clear from the following passage. He has lost some of his innocence and naivety.
“Here, then I retreated and lay down happy to have found a shelter, however miserable, fro the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man.”
At the point when the monster entered the village he was still innocent and essentially benevolent. However, the way in which he was treated and abused there altered his psyche. His psychological make up is formed by contact with the world; he is drawn to civilisation and wants the company of people, but the civilised world rejects him because of his alien appearance. For example after he has left the village, he finds a hovel, joined to a cottage, but, although the cottage seems inviting to him, he has learnt from his past experience. This means he is too scared to enter the cottage for fear of a recurrence of the past night’s events.
“I retired, for I saw the figure of a man at a distance, and I remembered too well my treatment the night before to trust myself in his power.”
The monster decides to stay in the hovel, which is to later become the way in which he acquires his main source of intelligence and knowledge of the human world. He finds that in his hovel there is a small chink through which he can just see into the adjoining cottage, which is to be the whole key for the monster to learn about life. At this point in the book, in the monster’s narrative, we, the reader are introduced to the De Lacey family who are the residents of the cottage the monster has found. They are to become crucial in the development of the monster’s character.
By observing the De Lacey family the monster soon discovers another emotion, love. He can’t explain the feeling and describes it as a, “mixture of pain and pleasure.” By describing it in this way he is relying on the two distinctive emotions he has felt in the past to explain this new feeling.
“He raised her and smiled with such kindness and affection that I felt sensations of a peculiar and over-powering nature; they were a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced, either fro hunger or cold, warmth or food.”
As the monster at this point still has only a very basic knowledge he has innocent reaction to the new emotions and people he has found, in that he doesn’t want to let them go or for his observation of them to stop. He is too fascinated by the knowledge they have, for example when they use candles inside to provide light for themselves.
“Night quickly shut in, but to my extreme wonder, I found that the cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of tapers, and was delighted to find that the setting of the sun did not put an end to the pleasure the I experience in watching my human neighbours.”
That night is also when the monster first encounters reading, which is to play a huge part in the development of his character and his knowledge later on.
“The youth began, not to play, but to utter sounds that were monotonous, and neither resembling the harmony of the old man’s instrument nor the songs of the birds; I since found that he read aloud, but at that time I knew nothing of the science of words or letters.”
The monster continues to gradually develop as he learns by observing the De Lacey family in their everyday lives, and they grow fond in his heart. The monster is lonely and the De Laceys are a perfect example of idyllic family life, which the monster longs to be part of.
“What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people, and I longed to join them, but dared not.”
Through watching the family attentively it soon becomes apparent to the monster that by taking their food he is upsetting them and causing them to go hungry, as they already suffer from dreadful poverty. Fortunately, at this point the monster is still essentially benevolent and has no concept of stealing as he is still using his natural instincts for survival. This is demonstrated by the fact that once he learns he is doing something hurtful to the family, which is slowly growing fondly in his heart, he stops immediately.
“I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots, which I gathered from a neighbouring wood.”
As the De Lacey family work to provide for themselves off the land, the monster is able to watch them use tools to get food and to chop fire wood. This inspires the monster to help the family in their labours and secretly collect fire wood for them at night, with the use of their tools. In doing this the monster derives great pleasure from helping the family and making them happy. It is the first time since he was created that he has been able to please human beings, even if it is in secret.
“During the night I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days. I remember, the first time I did this, the young woman, when she opened the door in the morning, appeared greatly astonished on seeing a great pile of wood on the outside. She uttered some words in a loud voice, and the youth joined her, who also expressed surprise. I observed, with pleasure, hat he did not go to the forest that day, but spent it in repairing the cottage and cultivating the garden.”
The next discovery the monster makes is one of great significance and importance to the development of his character and is central to how he behaves and interacts with people from this point onwards. He begins to discover what language is and starts to understand that is a means of communicating with others and a way of sharing emotions and experiences, in short, life.
“I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and feelings to one another by articulate sounds.”
In the following months the monster learns the rudiments of the English language and starts to pronounce certain, commonly used words himself, such as, “fire, milk, bread and wood.” However, he also learns to pronounce some words, but cannot yet grasp an understanding of their meaning, such as, “Good, dearest and unhappy.” The monsters mind is developing rapidly and, when he acquires the use of language and his voice, he begins to feel slightly less alienated and unfamiliar with the world.
“I cannot describe the delight I felt when I learned the ideas appropriated to each of these sounds and was able to pronounce them.”
The monster also comes to notice reading more and as his mind has developed to a point where he can work things out logically, he is able to understand more and make sense of things himself. Reading is to play a vital role in the monster’s development as the reader witnesses later. However, an event occurs before this, which disturbs the monster and causes him to lose much of his slowly acquired confidence and self-belief. After admiring the beauty of the De Lacy family, the monster is shocked to view himself in a pool of water. His image fills him with shame and despondency when he realises he is physically repulsive to the human, civilised world. He becomes aware of the definite contrast between himself and the De Lacey family, which saddens him.
“I had admired the perfect forms of my cottages- their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification. Alas! I did not entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity.”
After the terrible set back and shock of seeing his image, the monster continues to carry out his daily routine of observing the De Lacey family and secretly helping them in their chores. However, because his mind is developing rapidly he starts to rationalise what has happened to him and how he can affect what will happen to him in the future. The monster longs to become a part of the De Lacey’s family and world. They inspire him to believe in the power of language. The monster is extremely aware of his repulsive physical appearance but he believes that he could make himself acceptable through gentle behaviour and the art of speech. He states, “These thoughts exhilarated me and led me to apply with fresh ardour the acquiring the art of language.” Unfortunately the monster is naïve with respect to the ways of society is ignorant when it comes to people and their nature.
The following event described in the monster’s narrative is one that is heavily responsible for the final make up of the monster’s character. An Arabian lady by the name of Safie comes to join the family, as the love interest of Felix; however, she cannot speak English. This presents the monster with an excellent opportunity to acquire language more quickly as he watches how the De Lacey family teach Safie.
“Presently I found, by the frequent recurrence of some sound which the stranger repeated after them, she was endeavouring to learn their language; and the idea instantly occurred to me that I should make use of the same instructions to the same end.”
During this period the monster is not only developing mentally and intellectually but also emotionally, as he watches the interaction and displays of love and affection between Safie and Felix.
“Felix seemed ravished with delight when he saw her, every trait of sorrow vanished from his face, and it instantly expresses a degree of ecstatic joy, of which I could hardly have believed it capable; his eyes sparkled, as his cheek flushed with pleasure; and at that moment I thought him as beautiful as the stranger. She appeared affected by different feelings; wiping a few tears from her lovely eyes, she held out her hand to Felix.”
The monster learns the language quickly and eagerly, so much so that in a few months he is able to understand most of the words the De Lacey’s say to each other. However, despite this, the monster never feels that he is quite ready to go into the civilised world, as he is sacred that he will be abused and mistreated again. During his months of learning to speak the monster also learns more about reading as he watches when Felix teaches Safie to read.
“While I improved in speech, I also learned the science of letters as it was taught to the stranger, and this opened before me a wide field for wonder and delight.”
In addition to this the monster is also able to gain some knowledge of history as Felix reads a book to Safie called, “Ruins of Empires”. Hearing Felix read from this book provides the monster with a basic knowledge of the history of politics and religions of various nations. This increases his overall knowledge massively.
“Through this wok I obtained a cursory knowledge of history and a view of the several empires at present existing in the world; it gave me an insight into the manners, governments and religions of the different nations of the earth.”
Due to the monster’s increasingly more complex character and psyche he is also able to obtain a fuller perspective of the ways of man from this book. He gradually learns about the original inhabitants of the Americas wiped out by European invaders and, more importantly to him he learns of inequality. The monster is learning about the class system, and the upper class and aristocracy within society. From this the reader can see that Mary Shelley is making a political statement, especially as the monster asks himself, where he fits into this class system. Mary Shelley is making a statement about individuals within the state of society, and furthermore, how little tolerance and acceptance of others it possesses.
“When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?”
When the monster learns about the cruelty of men towards what is alien and different he begins to comprehend that he, with no family, friends, or position in society and cursed with an appearance that is, “hideously deformed and loathsome,” is the ultimate alien. He is still benevolent at this stage and finds this disgusting and unfair. The recognition of his status is highlighted by the simile used by him, about knowledge,
“Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it, like a lichen on the rock. I wished sometimes to shake off all thought and feeling, but I learned that there was but one means to overcome the sensation of pain, and that was death - a state which I feared yet did not understand.”
Following this the monster makes a discovery, which is to play a crucial role in the development of his character and also explain how later on he is able to speak so eloquently and articulately to Victor Frankenstein. On a journey through the woods, one day, he comes across three books. These are ‘Sorrows of Werter’, ‘Plutarch’s Lives’, and the most influential and relevant to the monster, ‘Paradise Lost’.
The first novel, ‘Sorrows of Werter’ is by German writer called Goethe and was published in 1744. The novel is about the life and ultimate suicide of a sensitive artist who is hopelessly in love with a woman engaged to someone else. The monster finds that although he can identify with the central character, Werter, the book depresses and melancholies him.
“I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition. I found myself similar yet at the same time strangely unlike to the beings concerning whom I read and to whose conversation I was a listener. I sympathized with a partly understood them, but I was unformed in my mind; I was dependent on none and elated to none.”
The second novel, ‘Plutarch’s Lives’, is a Greek text concerned with stories of heroes of Ancient Greece. From these tales the monster learns to be raised beyond the misery of his own condition by he stories of heroes from the past.
“I learned from Werter’s imaginations despondency and gloom, but Plutarch taught me high thoughts; he elevated me above the wretched sphere of my own reflections, to admire and, love heroes of past ages.”
The third and most important novel, ‘Paradise Lost’ is an epic poem by John Milton based on the story of the creation as found in Genesis, written in blank verse. It is a parallel to the monster’s creation and the story gives the monster motivation to desire the creation of a companion for himself. ‘Paradise Lost’ is the most important and influential of the books the monster finds. The monster can see the link between Adam and himself, but also sees how they differ. Adam is happy, prosperous and cared for by his creator - God. Whereas the monster, in contrast is wretched, alone and in a sense denied the opportunity to lie in a state of Paradise (he is abandoned) or even in the ordinary world. He also has no Eve to comfort him as Adam does.
I often referred the several situations, as their similarity struck me, to my own. Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence; but his state was far different from mine in every other respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator; he was allowed to converse with and acquire knowledge from beings of a superior nature, but I was wretched, helpless, and alone.”
The next discovery the monster makes is also very important to him. He finds his creator, Victor Frankenstein’s journal, which includes notes about the monster’s formation and Victor’s thoughts and feelings about him. Unfortunately, the monster reads about how disgusted Victor was after he had created him, which upsets but also angers him.
“I sickened as I read, ‘Hateful ay when I received life!’ I exclaimed in agony, ‘Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?”
Reading Victor’s journal puts everything into perspective for the monster and he reflects on the many things he has discovered about the world since he was first brought into existence. He starts to become more hardened to the ways of the world and replaces some of the sorrow he had, with anger and bitterness towards the world, but especially towards Victor.
“Increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was. I cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld my person reflected in water or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail image and that inconstant shade.”
Despite this, the monster is determined to keep hold of some of the faith he has in the integrity, rectitude, and decency of the De Lacey family. He resolves to give human decency one more chance by deciding to make himself known to the De Laceys. The outcome of this situation decides the outcome of the monster’s character; The De Laceys reject the monster in horror, even these virtuous people cannot accept someone as alien and different as the monster that has watched them for so long. Consequently the monster is turned to a life of bitterness, anger and revenge on his creator for making him suffer the life he is forced to lead in isolation.
“This, I thought, was the moment of decision, which was to rob me of or bestow happiness on me forever.”
“At that instant the cottage door was opened, and Felix, Safie and Agatha entered. Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me? Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung; in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick. My heart sank within me as with bitter sickness, and I refrained, I saw him on the point of repeating his blow, when, overcome by pain and anguish, I quitted the cottage, and in the general tumult escaped unperceived to my hovel.”
In chapter sixteen, the reader sees the monster seek revenge on the human world, which has, in every instance, he has encountered it turned him away with cruelty. This is the first time the monster has experienced such emotions. Never before has he felt hate and revenge, which again indicates how his character is formed and influenced by his interaction with human society. The monster declares his hatred of Victor and vows to seek revenge on him and anyone who gets in his way.
“Should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No; from t hat moment I declared ever-lasting was against the species, an d more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery.”
These new emotions that the monster is now feeling complete his character. The monster is now in possession of all the fundamental factors that make up a human being. However, his character has changed from that of a gentle, benevolent, and innocent creature, to a raging, bitter and revenge seeking monster. Still, the monster is conscious of is change of character and reinforces his new feelings, “The mildness of my nature had fled, and all within me was turned to gall and bitterness.” Despite this, on his journey to Geneva the monster is happy amongst nature and the wildlife he encounters, as there are no people. “I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me.”
Signs to suggest that that the monster’s character still possessed some goodness are apparent. For example, on seeing that a young girl is drowning he goes to rescue her. However, as always, his actions are misunderstood and it looks like he is attacking the girl, to a passing outsider.
“This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone.”
When the monster was rescuing the girl feelings of benevolence and instinct returned to him, but after the experience his mood is now changed for ever. “I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind.”
Continuing his journey to Geneva, to find Victor, the monster comes across William, Victor’s younger brother. He is drawn to him because he is a child and still slightly naïve. The monster hopes that as he is a child he will not have yet formed prejudices about the world. However, he is wrong. William has already formed his opinions as most children do and has been educated in society’s prejudices. The boy calls the monster an, “Ugly wretch”, and an “ogre.” This infuriates the monster and he becomes truly demonic as he strangles the child to death.
“You belong then to my enemy - to him towards whom towards I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.”
The monster is becoming increasingly satanic and after he has killed the child he feels victorious over his enemy, Frankenstein.
“I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed, ‘I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.”
Not only does the monster murder William to get revenge on Frankenstein, he also frames a member of his household, Justine, and sees that she is blamed for the murder. He does this out of spite; the monster has become evil and acrimonious beyond recognition of his former self. The only thing that will satisfy the monster is for Frankenstein to make him a companion. This is a parallel to the story of Adam and Eve, God created Eve for Adam, so the monster wants his creator to provide a companion for him.
“I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defected. This being you must create.”
By comparing the opening of chapter fifteen with the opening of chapter sixteen we can see the transition the monster has made in his character. At the beginning of chapter fifteen, and indeed since the moment he was brought into existence, the monster was truly innocent and naïve. He was essentially benevolent and was constantly learning about the world and, more importantly, himself to complete his character’s development. He had no concept of man and society or of discrimination and many of his responses could be likened to those of children. However from chapter sixteen onwards we see the monster rage with fury, wanting revenge over his creator, Victor Frankenstein. His character’s development is complete and he has been transformed by his interaction with people and in a sense corrupted by them. It is almost like he has metamorphosized from an innocent, benevolent creature to an evil, satanic creature. At the opening of chapter fifteen, the monster was comparable to Adam; at the opening of chapter sixteen, he is more comparable to Satan.
In writing the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is suggesting a great deal about the new science of her age. Frankenstein is a novel, which concerns the life of a scientist with a passionate thirst for knowledge, the result of this being the creation of a monster. However, the scientist refuses to take responsibility for his experiments.
Many of the ideas contained in the novel are based on Mary Shelley’s familiarity with the scientific debates and discoveries of her time. She was familiar with Humphrey Day’s pamphlet, ‘A Discourse introductory to the course lectures in chemistry’ (1802). This gave her vital information about chemistry and the suggestion that chemistry might provide the secrets of life. Her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, also had an interest in science and often conducted his own experiments using electricity. He was interested in the idea that electricity might be the ‘spark of life’. Mary Shelley’s preface to the novel refers specifically to the work of Erasmus Darwin, “They talked of the experiments of Dr Darwin, who preserved a piece of vermicelli in a glass case till by some extraordinary means it began to move with voluntary motion.” The preface and indeed the whole novel raises a question about the morality of trying to create life, which is still an increasingly relevant issue in today’s society.
“Supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the creator of the world.” In her preface Mary Shelley refers specifically to galvanism; in the 1790s, Luigi Galvani suggested that animal tissue contained a vital force which he called ‘animal electricity’. He believed this was a different form of electricity to that produces by things such as lightning. He thought it was a force produced by the brain and conducted by the nerves to produce muscular motion.
This theory led to many experiments of human corpses, where wires were attached to stimulate what was called galvanic activity and the corpse would begin to move. Using this knowledge, and her own scientific knowledge, Mary Shelley uses her novel to produce a frightening prediction of what the future might hold in a world where it is man, not God, who holds the secret of life.
Noting the subtitle of the novel, ‘The Modern Prometheus’ gives a further clue as to what Mary Shelley is suggesting about the new science of her age. There are two versions of the Prometheus myths; In the ancient Greek version, Prometheus challenges the power of the gods in order to help mankind. He is punished by Zeus for stealing the fire of the gods and consequently is chained forever to a rock, his liver perpetually eaten out by a vulture.
In the Roman version of the myth, Prometheus is a creator who moulds the first human out of clay. The two myths gradually converged and the fire of the gods became the vital force with which Prometheus brought his clay images to life. This leaves us with certain apparent parallels to Victor Frankenstein; Like Prometheus, Frankenstein is chained forever to a torturous destiny, to pursue the monster through the wilds of the earth. In addition to this Prometheus suffers physical torture, whereas Frankenstein is tormented by continual psychological torment.
The novel could be read as a parable highlighting the dangers of pushing the boundaries of scientific research. It may well be that Mary Shelley wanted her work to be a warning to all scientists. She was fascinated by the discoveries and scientific inventions that modern science produced. However, at the same time she was very aware of the potential dangers of scientific quest.
In Victor Frankenstein’s case, his obsessive thirst for knowledge and power developed into a self destructive passion. Through his research, he severs himself off from his family and friends, who are all finally destroyed by his creation. The innermost embedded narrative of the monster reveals to us that he is in an equally miserable and isolated situation. The monster is tragically fated to a life of rejection and isolation from humanity and ultimately we tend to sympathise with him and condemn Victor Frankenstein for his actions that resulted in this.
